Rocky Marciano
Rocco Francis Marchegiano, better known as Rocky Marciano, (September 1 1923 – August 31 1969), was an Italian-American boxer. He was the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion from September 23, 1952 to November 30, 1956. Because he is the only champion of any weight class to retire undefeated and without any draws, there are some who consider him to be the greatest boxer of all time. The closest anyone has come to matching this accomplishment is Ricardo Lopez who retired undefeated in 2001 from the Minimum (Fly) Weight division at 51-0-1.
Early childhood
Marciano had to fight practically since the start of his life in Brockton, Massachusetts. He contracted pneumonia when he was one year old, and he almost did not survive. But Marciano was a strong baby, and he was able to overcome the infection.
Marciano was a stocky and well built kid with strong arms as a pre-teen, but he benefited from living next to a park. He used to go to the James Edgar Playground to play baseball every day, and he would hit ball after ball and then go pick the balls up. After that, he'd go home to lift some homemade weightlifting equipment.
Rocky at the time used a stuffed mail bag that hung from a tree in his back yard as a punching bag. He and his friends would punch the bag, and if it was hot, they would race for a drink of water at a local soda fountain.
Teenage years
Because it was widely known that Rocky had an interest in boxing, he would get involved in street fights as a teenager more than the average kid and became known as the "tough Italian kid". But Rocky wanted to be a baseball player, not a boxer, so he also became famous for his potential as a possible major league star.
School years
When Rocky was fifteen, he entered Brockton High School and made the football team. Legend has it that center Rocky once intercepted a pass and ran 60 yards with the ball to score a touchdown.
He also made the school's baseball team as a catcher, but was told he was slow and moved to right field. Shortly after, Rocky joined a church league, violating a school rule that players could not join other teams. Cut from his school's team, Rocky felt frustrated and started cutting class and later on, dropped out completely, after finishing his 10th grade.
Boxing career
Rocky had been urged by a teacher to attend a vocational center in Brockton, and realized he had few working skills. Rocky found work as a chute man on delivery trucks for the Brockton Ice and Coal Company. Later Rocky's father was able to get him a job as a shoe salesman. When Rocky was 20, he was called up by the United States Army to serve in England. However, World War II was drawing to an end, and Rocky was flown back to the States.
Amateur circuit
While awaiting discharge from the army, Rocky decided to take part in an amateur boxing competition, where he represented the Army and won. Upon being given a month's furlough from the Army, Rocky went back home and bragged about his newly found talent to his family and friends. It was his uncle who told him about a boxer who was looking for an opponent, and that maybe Rocky fitted the bill. The boxer was Henry Lester, a Golden Gloves champion. Rocky did not seem to care that his opponent was an award-winning amateur and took on Lester. Rocky was lucky it wasn't an official bout because, according to people present, he was on his way to defeat when he hit Lester in the groin and was disqualified. Some say he hit him in the stomach with his kneww. Rocky was so embarrassed by this fight and the newspapers' accounts of it that, when he went back to the military facilities, he started concentrating solely on his boxing training.
His next big opportunity was the national AAU championships. Rocky won his first two bouts by knockouts in the first round, but by the third bout, his knuckles were damaged, and he lost by decision for the championship. His hand later required surgery because of the injuries, and the doctor who performed the surgery, a Japanese friend of his, told him he would "never make it as a Heavyweight".
By then Rocky was playing semi-pro baseball, and he was signed by the Chicago Cubs to a minor league contract. But, while playing on a minor league team, he heard his coach say that none of the players on his team would ever make it to the big leagues. Rocky took this personally and soon returned to Brockton, where he felt dejected by the whole baseball system and started training with his sights set on becoming a professional boxer. There, longtime friend Allie Colombo became his trainer and put Rocky on a very strong training regimen.
Professional career
On March 17, 1947, Rocky finally stepped into the ring as a professional competitor for the first time. That night, he beat Lee Epperson by a knockout in three rounds. He won all his first sixteen bouts by knockout, all but one before the fourth round, and nine before the first round was over. On May 23, 1949, Don Mogard became the first boxer to last the distance with The Rock, but Rocky won by decision.
He won three more by knockout, and then he met Ted Lowry, who, according to many scribes and witnesses, probably managed to take three or four of the ten rounds away from Rocky. Nevertheless, Rocky kept his winning streak alive by beating Lowry by decision. Four more knockout wins followed, and then another hard-fought ten-round decision victory, over his future world title challenger Roland LaStarza. He won three more knockouts in a row before a rematch with Lowry. Marciano again won, by unanimous decision. After that, he won four more by knockout and, after a win in six over Red Applegate, he was showcased on national TV for the first time, when he knocked out Rex Layne in six rounds on July 12, 1951. One more win, and he was again on national TV, this time against Joe Louis.
In Louis' last career bout, Marciano won by a knockout in the eighth round. Louis had always been a hero to Rocky. He said one of his fondest memories as a youth was listening to Louis's bouts on the radio. He felt so bad having knocked out his idol that he broke down and wept in his dressing room after the fight. Marciano later told a reporter, "If I had fought Joe ten years ago, he could have beat me with his eyes closed". After that series of wins, Marciano was a ranked as a Heavyweight. After four more wins, including victories over Lee Savold and Harry Matthews, Marciano faced world Heavyweight champion Jersey Joe Walcott in Philadelphia on September 23, 1952. After being dropped in round one, Marciano got up and knocked Walcott out in the thirteenth round, becoming the World's Heavyweight Champion. A rematch was fought one year later and, in Marciano's first title defense, he retained the title with a first-round knockout of Walcott. Next, it was LaStarza's turn to challenge Marciano, and after building a small lead on the judges' scorecards all the way to the middle rounds, LaStarza was knocked out in eleven by the champion. Then came former world Heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles, who Marciano beat by a decision in their first bout. Ezzard Charles was the only man to ever last fifteen rounds against Marciano and the champ later praised him as one of the toughest men he ever fought in his life. After having his nose split in round six of the rematch, Marciano retained the title with an eighth-round knockout win. Then Marciano met British and European champion Don Cocknell, beat him in nine rounds, and in his last bout, Marciano got up off the canvas in round two to retain his title by a knockout in nine against the equally-legendary Light-Heavyweight Champion of the World, Archie Moore.
After boxing
Marciano managed his money well after his retirement, but many of his deals did not go well and he gave money to people who never paid back. He lived a comfortable life the rest of his days. He hosted a one year weekly boxing show on TV, and lived in a mansion. Rocky hated the fact Weill was screwing him out of his purse and that was one of the reasons and the main reason he quit so early. Marciano was known for being very kind and generous with friends and charitable causes. He never forgot his poor background and maintained a fierce pride in his Italian ancestry.
Marciano became for a brief period of time a trouble shooting referee in professional wrestling after his boxing retirement. However, that was only for a few bouts, Rocky continued as a referee in boxing matches, until his death. He was a guest referee.
In 1969, Rocky was a passenger in a small private plane going to Des Moines, Iowa. It was at night and bad weather set in. The pilot tried to set the plane down at a small airfield outside Newton, Iowa, but hit a tree two miles short of the runway. It was a Cessna 172H airplane, they crashed near Newton, Iowa. Rocky Marciano, another passenger, and the pilot were all killed instantly. Rocky was on his way to make a speech for his friend's son, he hoped to return early morning for his birthday celebration with his wife. He left no will.
Legacy
Rocky had a record of 49-0 with 43 knockout wins. Some say he was 50-0, (with 44 knockouts) but that bout can not be proven as professional, yet. IN reality he was 51-0, 2 fights from heavy weight amateur division + 49, all straight victories. He should have fought Nino Valdes in his last fight on January 2 1956 (or at a later date in 1956) but Nino lost too many fights to be considered a serious challenger. January 2 is celebrated as Rocky Day. Floyd Patterson was 1-2 years away and Rocky had no intentions waiting. Floyd wanted to go for light-heavyweight championship first, before taking on Rocky. Tommy Hurricane Jackson was another contender for Rocky but again, nobody was really interested. While his records as the Heavyweight champion is the longest undefeated streak and his position as the only world Heavyweight champion to go undefeated through his whole career were challenged by Larry Holmes in 1985 (when Holmes went 48-0 before losing to Michael Spinks twice), Marciano's record still stands. After Holmes lost to Spinks, exactly to the day when Rocky fought his last, 30 years before; he caused some controversy by making some unfortunate comments about Marciano, but he later apologized.
Rocky was only knocked down to the canvas twice - for a total of seven seconds of counting - in his entire professional career. On both occasions he returned to KO his opponent. Only Gene Tunney was knocked down fewer times (once - in the famous Long Count Fight).
Marciano was the subject of a 1999 biographical television film. Also, in the movie Rocky, the Rocky Balboa character told his trainer Mickey that Marciano was his favorite boxer. Marciano has also been the subject of several paintings, and he is on a US postage stamp commemorating his life.
Marciano, like rivals Louis, Walcott, and Moore, is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. Other awards which Marciano won included the Hickok Belt for top professional athlete of the year 1952.
Numerous books have been written about Marciano including the 1977 book by Everett M. Skehan titled Rocky Marciano, Biography of a First Son, whose cover is shown at the top of this page. Ring Magazine numbered Marciano at number fourteen in their list of The 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time, released in 2003.
Rocky Marciano is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His wife died 5 years later and is buried next to him. His father died in 1973 at the age of 79, mother continued to live for few more years. His trainer and friend Alie Colombo was crushed by a truck (at work) on Jan 6 1969. Al Weill died on October 19 1969. Trainer Charlie Colombo died on 11/11/1968. Within 10 shorts months the golden age of boxing was gone.
External links
Rocky Marciano
Sex Male
Nationality US American-Italian
Alias The Brockton Blockbuster
Birth Name Rocco Francis Marchegiano
Hometown Brockton, MA
Birthplace Brockton, MA
Division Heavyweight
Date of Birth 1923-09-01
Date of Death 1969-08-31
Age at Death 45
Reach 67”
Stance Orthodox
Height 5' 11
Trainer C. Goldman, Ale Columbo (Died Jan 6 1969, crushed by a truck}
W 49 (43 ko's) | L 0 | D 0 | 1 unknown; Total 50
First Fight 1947, Last 1956
Mohammed Ali Exhibition, January 20 1970, Rocky Won KO 13